Pista Kalakand / Pistachio Cottage Cheese Milk Cake

Kitchen Equipments Required

Blender, Heavy bottom pan or Kadhai, a stirring spoon, a bowl to soak the pistachios, chopping board and knife, a small bowl to soak saffron, a  6 inch diameter plate for setting the kalakand.

Ingredients

Pistachios / Pista – 50 gms

Paneer – 100 gms. Use fresh paneer (home made) or market bought. If using market bought, grate or crumble it fine. Paneer recipe. You may use ricotta cheese too.

Milk Powder – 100 gms

Ghee – 2 tbsp + some more for greasing

Milk – 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder – 1/8 tsp

Sugar – 2/3 cup. I keep my desserts moderately sweet. You may increase the sugar to 3/4 cup if you prefer more sweet.

Saffron – a small pinch soaked in 1 tsp milk.

Pistachio for garnish

Silver edible leaf for decoration, optional.

Method

1. Soak the pistachios in water for 2 hrs. After soaking, remove their greyish brown layer. Refer to the picture below.

2. Add the soaked and cleaned pistachio to the blender. Add 2 tbsp of water and make a fine paste. Use more water if required, but add little at a time.

3. Heat ghee in the heavy bottom pan. Lower the heat and add the pistachio paste. Sauté and cook it on lower medium flame, stirring continuously, till pistachio pasteeaves the side and start collecting in the center. It takes about 5-7 minutes. Continuous stirring and scraping from bottom and sides is necessary. Keep an eye on the flame and adjust accordingly. We donot want to brown the paste.

4. Add milk powder, paneer and milk to the pan. Mix it well with the stirring spoon, so that it looks like one body. Bring it to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and cook it further while stirring continuously, till it thickens and starts collecting onwards the center. It takes about 10 odd minutes.

5. Now add sugar and cardamom powder. When you will add sugar, it will expand more since sugar melts with heat. Lower the heat and cook further for another 5-7 minutes till it becomes thicker and not too dense.

6. Grease the plate. Pour the milk cake out on the plate. Grease your fingers with ghee. Slide the mix evenly to 3/4th to 1 inch thickness.

7. Spread the saffron milk evenly on top. Apply the silver leaf and sprinkle with pistachio slivers. Press it down gently with fingers.

8. Set it in the fridge for 2-3 hrs before cutting. You may set it at the room temperature as well for 4-5 hrs.

9. Cut into diamond or square shapes and serve. I love it’s light pastel green hue…so confronting and soothing.

Notes

1. You may store it in the fridge for 1 week in air tight container.

2. I do not support artificial food coloring so didn’t add any green food color. If you like more prominent green color, add 1-2 drops of green food color, with pistachio paste.

3. There are many kalakand or milk cake recipes available. This is my take.

4. If you don’t want it to set like a fudge, make pedas out of it. Grease your hands. Pinch small lemon size pieces and roll into balls. Garnish with some saffron milk, silver leaf and crushed pistachios. Set aside for cooling.